


A Hard Decision to Make

by QueenRiley



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-13
Updated: 2011-03-13
Packaged: 2017-10-16 22:31:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenRiley/pseuds/QueenRiley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Beverly Crusher is given a hard decision to make. She wonders if she has the strength to do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hard Decision to Make

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Abyssinia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abyssinia/gifts).



Beverly stared at the screen. She had been staring for hours, off and on, over the past few days. It was a formal letter, the kind generated for all offers, and yet it felt so personal. It **was** personal, to her anyway. Head of Starfleet Medical. They were offering her Head of Starfleet Medical. She still couldn’t quite believe it.

It was the opportunity of a lifetime, of course. And she’d more than earned it over the years. She’d worked hard through medical school, continued to work hard throughout her career. Her creativity and dedication had certainly earned her quite the reputation with those higher in the chain of command than herself. And with each year, the number of “those” seemed to shrink more and more. And here she was, offered the top.

Could she do it, though? It would mean leaving the Enterprise. This old ship felt more like home than anywhere she’d been stationed since joining Starfleet. It was more a home to her than even Caldos II had been growing up. But she’d left other homes before. She could leave this one now.

But Wesley. Would he really want to leave? He was so close to entering the Academy and the work he had done on the Enterprise… well he was learning things no school could ever teach him. He was finally settled here. He had friends. People he could talk to. A constantly engaged mind. Perhaps he could find those things with her at Starfleet Medical. He was a brilliant boy, could really flourish anywhere so long as he was learning something new. And, she supposed, he was old enough. If Jean-Luc would agree, he could always stay behind on the Enterprise for a little while. Just until he was ready to join her. Or the Academy, whichever came first.

Jean-Luc. How would she ever tell Jean-Luc?

She had so many friends here. So many opportunities. Would it really be worth it?

There were so many changes she wanted to enact in the system, innovations just waiting to be explored. As Head, she could do all that she wanted and more. As Head, she would be privy to the absolute latest advances in medicine. Oh the things she could learn! If she were Head of Starfleet Medical, she wouldn’t just be affecting the lives of those on the Enterprise. She would be affecting the lives of the entirety of Starfleet itself. She could really change things for the better.

Beverly Crusher stared at the letter for awhile longer. She read it again despite having memorized each and every line. This was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. And she wouldn’t. She was strong enough to leave. She was strong enough to make a tangible difference. And so she would.

 


End file.
